A buddy who I tie jigs for works for a tire dealership. He dropped off a 5g bucket mostly full of tire weights and since we had a three day weekend, melted it all down & turned it into lead muffins.
I learned a few things. First, tire weights are not only made with lead, like the fishing industry, they are starting to use tungsten to replace lead. Sadly, my Lee pot does not melt tungsten, or I’d have some killah jigs. Ended up testing each piece of lead before I dropped it in to the Lee pot to melt by scraping the lead w/ a screwdriver. You can feel the tungsten ones immediately because the screwdriver barley scratches them. There were also lead weights with a coating on it. The screwdriver easily scratched through the coating to reveal lead underneath. I guess about 25% of the weights were tungsten.
Next, the bucket sat outside, so some of the jigs on the bottom were in a pool of water. I’d drop a bunch of jigs into the Lee pot, then put the wet ones on top. By the time the bottom jigs melted, all the water evaporated – or so I thought. Thankfully, someone shared their lessons &and burns with the board, because I took care with the wet ones. The pot was in the drive way about 10’ from the garage where I was doing the sorting. All of a sudden, I head an mini-explosion and about ½ the lead in the pot volcanoed out & spattered everywhere. Fortunately I was in the garage, so I had no injury, but from that point forward, I avoided putting any lead into the hot melted lead. I had the Lee pot in a cookie sheet, so recovered most of the lead.
So for those pouring & salvaging lead, be careful dropping lead into the pot. If any mostures trapped, it could lead to a trip to the emergency room. Were gloves, thick cloths, & eye protection, along with a respirator (that old grease & adhesive’s toxic) and a hat just in case.
I learned a few things. First, tire weights are not only made with lead, like the fishing industry, they are starting to use tungsten to replace lead. Sadly, my Lee pot does not melt tungsten, or I’d have some killah jigs. Ended up testing each piece of lead before I dropped it in to the Lee pot to melt by scraping the lead w/ a screwdriver. You can feel the tungsten ones immediately because the screwdriver barley scratches them. There were also lead weights with a coating on it. The screwdriver easily scratched through the coating to reveal lead underneath. I guess about 25% of the weights were tungsten.
Next, the bucket sat outside, so some of the jigs on the bottom were in a pool of water. I’d drop a bunch of jigs into the Lee pot, then put the wet ones on top. By the time the bottom jigs melted, all the water evaporated – or so I thought. Thankfully, someone shared their lessons &and burns with the board, because I took care with the wet ones. The pot was in the drive way about 10’ from the garage where I was doing the sorting. All of a sudden, I head an mini-explosion and about ½ the lead in the pot volcanoed out & spattered everywhere. Fortunately I was in the garage, so I had no injury, but from that point forward, I avoided putting any lead into the hot melted lead. I had the Lee pot in a cookie sheet, so recovered most of the lead.
So for those pouring & salvaging lead, be careful dropping lead into the pot. If any mostures trapped, it could lead to a trip to the emergency room. Were gloves, thick cloths, & eye protection, along with a respirator (that old grease & adhesive’s toxic) and a hat just in case.
